December 1775: When Liberty Chose Resolve Over Retreat

 In this episode of Live to Shoot – Defending the Second Amendment, Jeff Dowdle continues the Road to 250 series by examining what was happening in December 1775, a month when reconciliation with the British Crown effectively died and armed resistance became unavoidable. 

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Transcript

0:14

Welcome to the Live Shoot podcast. My name is Jeff Doddle and I've been a licensed farm dealer for the last 18 years. In this podcast, we talk about all things related to the Second Amendment, a sports story, or anything else that I might find interesting. So. Welcome, welcome, welcome. And we are continuing our time travel back to 1775. And this is, we continue this month to month journey that we've been going on. Looking back what was happening 250 years ago as we prepare for our country's 250th birthday on July 4th, 2026. And here we are, we're in December, 1775, and by December of 1775. This, let me be clear. There was no longer a protest movement. There was no longer about petitions, complaints, or letters crowned. By December 17, 75 American colonies were in open rebellion, fighting a global superpower, armed largely by their own privately owned firearms, and driven by belief that liberty was worth the cost. Today we're talking about the month where hesitation ended, lines were crossed and the revolution became irreversible. Now, by December, the colonies had already seen bloodshed at Lexington, Concord, and a brutal fight at Bunker Hill and a month of siege around Boston. George Washington was commanding an army that barely resembled any type of professional force. Supplies were scarce. Training was inconsistent, power was running low. But what they lacked in logistics, they made up for conviction. The American people were armed. Organized and increasingly aware that the British government intended to disarm them completely. The details mattered, especially today. In December, 1775, the second continental Congress took decisive steps that tell us exactly how the founders viewed arms loyalty and self-defense. Congress formally recommended that colonies disarm those who remain loyal to the crown and were deemed dangerous to the cause of liberty. Now, let it sink in. They weren't disarmed to everyone. They didn't ban weapons. They disarmed those who sided with tyranny and posed a threat to the rights of others. This that's not about public safety. In the modern political sense, this was about survival. The assumption was clear free citizens were armed by default. Disarmament was the exception, not the rule, the mindset. This mindset would be later written directly into our Second Amendment while Congress was acting defensively. The British Parliament was doing quite the opposite. In December of 1775, the British government passed what became known as a prohibitory act. This law declared that American colonies to be an open rebellion. It removed them from the protection of the crown. It authorized the seizure seizure of American ships, and it made reconciliation nearly impossible. In other words, Britain officially chose force over compromised. From that moment on, the colonists were no longer fighting for reform. They were fighting for independence. Whether Congress was ready to admit it or not. December also marked one of the bloodiest and boldest decisions of the early war. The Continental Army launched an assault on Quebec City on December 31st, 1775. This was an attempt to bring Canada into the revolution and deny the British a northern base of operation. But the attack failed. George Richard Montgomery was killed. Benedict Arnold was wounded. American forces suffered heavy losses and were forced into retreat. But here's the important part. These men attacked a fortified city in the dead of winter.'cause they believe the alternative was worse. They believe that they did not fight. If they did not take the risks, liberty would be lost entirely. That willingness to resist, resist even when the odds were brutally, we brutal is a theme that runs straight through American history as we close out 1775. It is impossible that nor one fact there was no massive standing army in carrying this revolution. There were farmers, tradesmen, hunters, blacksmiths, shopkeepers. Men who fought, brought their own muskets, men who understood how to use them, and men who believed that being armed was not just a right, but a responsibility. The revolution survived its first year, not because of the foreign aid that would come later, but because the American people were already armed before the shooting started. It's not an accidental history. This is a foundational history. By the end of December, the question was no longer whether the colonies would submit. The question was whether would they endure and they did because they refused to surrender their arms, their autonomy, and their right to resist tyranny. When the founders later wrote the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, they were not theorizing. They were remembering. They were remembering confiscation orders. They were remembering loyalist threats. They were remembering red coats marching to seize powder and firearms. They were remembering 1775 as we head into 1776 in our next episode. Remember this, the American Revolution did not survive its first year because politicians made speeches. It survived because ordinary people were armed. Resolved and unwilling to be ruled without consent. December 17, 75 was the month where America stopped looking back, and once Liberty makes that decision, there is no turning back. I'm Jeff Doddle. This is a live shoot defending the Second Amendment podcast. If you like this, share it with others rate it, review, give it five stars, help with al or algorithm or ranking that can get out there, get the message out there. I appreciate it. But remember, we need to stay free, stay armed, and I'll see you next time as we continue down the road to 250 years. Take care.